Railway freight car



y 1 6'- -c. K. STEINS 2,399,950

RAILWAY FREIGHT CAR Filed July 13, 1194s 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FjG l INVENTORQ C'GIf/fO/YJI'. $781125,

ATTORNEYS.

y 1946. c. K. STEINS Y 2,399,950

RAILWAY FREIGHT CAR Filed July 13, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

c. K. sTEINs 5 sheets-sheet s INVENTOR: Caz'leiwzKfieI/rs,

ATTORNEYS.

May 7, 1946.

RAILWAY FREIGHT CAR Filed July 13, 1945 May 7, 1946.

c.- K. STEINS RAILWAY FREIGHT CAR Filed July 13, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 O NM. kNex w w in R m 8 my 5 MK M N T r a Z Patented May 7, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE".

RAILWAY FREIGHT CAR Carleton x. Steins. Merlon, Pa., assignor'to The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania i Application July 1a, 1943, semi No. 494,470,

lz claims. (01. 105-329) This invention relatesto' railway cars used for shipments subject to damage by freezing and is concerned with the heating of such cars.

The chief aim of my invention is to enable conversion of freight cars particularly of the bunker refrigerator type for use in transportation, during the winter, of perishable commodities such as vegetables and fruits which must be kept at a temperature above freezing for protectionagainst spoilage, and yet enable the car to be employed in its full capacity when heating is not required.

These desiderata are attained in practice as hereinafter more fully set forth through provision of compartments for removable heaters, of which the component parts are collapsible and storable with in hollows in the cal-walls so as to be flush with the inner surfaces of such walls when notinuse. r

In connection with a freight ca;- having the above attributes it is a further aim of my invention to provide for ready access to the heater compartments from the exterior of the car so that the heaters may be removed or refuled when necessary, without entailing disturbance of the lading.

Other object and attendant advantages will appear from the following description of the attached drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a view partly in top plan and partly in horizontal section of a top bunker refrigerator car conveniently embodying the present improvements Fig. 2 is a cross section of the car taken as indicated by the angled arrows II-II in Figs. 1 and 3 and drawn to a larger scale.

Fig. 3 shows the car in vertical longitudinal section.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary" horizontal sectional view taken as indicated by the angled arrows IV-IV in Fig. 2, and also drawn to a larger scale.

Figs. 5 and 6 are fragmentary vertical sections taken as respectively indicated by the angled ar- Fig. 10' is a fragmentary sectional view taken 1 as indicated by the angled arrows X-X inFig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view corresponding to Fig. 4 and showing more clearly structural details at the region of connection of one .of the wall components of a heater compartment with a contiguous sidewall of the car; and

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of the car looking as indicated by the angled arrows XII-XII in Fig. l.

The car chosen for convenience of illustrating my invention is of the type commonly known as a top bunker refrigerator car having metalllcally reinforced hollow side walls 8, SI end walls E, El, a roofR. a true floor or bottom F, and a false floor Fl which latter is elevated from said true; floor and formed by laterally-spaced longitudi nally-extending slots or boards. The lading space within the car is reached through doors D, DI respectively at the centers of the side walls S,

SI, see Figs. 1 and 3. For the purposes of heat conservation, the walls 8, SI, E, Elt roof R and true floor F are packed with suitable insulation 1; as conventionally shown. Also after usual practice, the car is provided along each side and'drabove throughhatches H, HI in the roof R upon removal of the covers indicated at C, Cl. Underreaching the bunkers B, Bl with provision of clearances all around them are trays T, TI. This construction, it will be seen, results in the formation of air lines A, Al which respectively extend upward of the side walls 5, SI and laterally inward beneath the roof- R and which terminate in a longitudinal slat-like port P that opens into the lading space within the car centrally of the top of the latter. During refrigeration when ice is used in the bunkers 3, Bi, the

chilled air will circulate in divided paths within the car reversely to the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2 in a manner which is well known in the art and which need not therefore be elaborated upon here.

In order to convert a refrigerator car such as briefly described above for winter use, in accordance with my invention, I provide. preferably in opposite. corners thereof, comparatively small low heater compartments II, it for the accommodation or individual heaters II which may be of the oil. charcoal or other fuel burning types, and which are removably secured to the car floor Pas best showninl 'igafi'endd, bywingbolts I2.

Since the compartments II and III are identical both as'regarde theirconstruetion and the at I purtenances associated with them, the immediately following description of one of them will hold for the other also. As shown, the heater compartment I is formed in part by the side wall 8, one end wall E and the floor of the car, while the other two side wall components It, is and top component it thereof are separately formed, being constructed from asbestos board panels or the like set into angle iron frame and covered with sheet metal as best seen in Figs. 4 and 6. The side wall component II, it will be observed, is hinged at ii to one of the supporting studs ll of the inner paneling of the car wall E. The top component It is likewise hingedly connected to the car wall E at it. From Figs. 5 and 6 it will be further noted that the car wall E is recessed at It to receive the top component It when the latter is swung upward as indicated in dot-anddash lines. in which position it is releasably securable by means later described. The other or front wall component ll of the compartment ID has the frame angle bars along one of its vertical edges removably engaged in a hooked channel strip 2| ailixed to the car wall S, see Figs. 4, 7 and 11, with its opposite edge abutted by the swinging end of the side component It and its top edge abutted by the swinging edge of the top component It. At the regions of mutual abutment the components "-45 are detachablyconnected by releasable securing devices 22, 22a and 2217 (Figs. '1 and 8) which are all of identical construction. Thus, for example, the device 22 illustrated in detail in Figs. 9 and 10 for connecting the side and top components I and I5 comprises a link element 22 with a pivot pin 25 whereof the ends are slidably engaged inpockets 26 at opp site sides of a cut-out 21 in the metal sheeting at one face of the front wall component M. To

the edge flange 2! of the top component i5 is aflixed, in spaced relation, a pair of eyes 28 between which the link element 23 is received. and through which eyes and said element a cotter pin III is passed, said pin being attached by a chain ll to said top component for assurance against being lost when it is withdrawn. As shown in Figs. 4 and 6, the inner lining or paneling of the car is also omitted below the recess is and an inwardly dished panel 32 of sheet metal there substituted. In dismantling the heater compartment I (I, the cotter pins I0 and a of. the securing devices 22 and 22a (Figs. 4, 9 and 10) are withdrawn with incidental dropping of the link elements 23, 22a into the confines of the cut-outs 21 and 21a in the side components It and it, as shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 10; whereupon the top component It is swung upward about its hinges ll into the recess is therefor in the car wall E, as indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 6, and made fast by passing the cotter pin 30 through the eyes 2. ends link 38 (Figs. 5 and 6) similar to the link 28 of the securing device 22, pivoted to a bracket 34 on the car wall E immediately above the top edge of the recess l8. With this accomplished, the cotter pins 30b of the securing devices 22!) are withdrawn to disconnect the front wall component is of the compartment II from the component 88. Thereupon the component I is swung outwardly slightly for release of its opposite edge 20 from the channel strip 2|, and after being thus freed, is placed into the hollow of the panel '22 in the car wall E. Finally, the side wall component l3 of the heater compartment I0 is swung inwardly about its hinges it into the recess it against the component It, as also indicated in dot-and-dash aseaeso lines in Figs. 4 and 6, and secured by sliding latch bolts 35 (Fig. 4) at its swinging edge into apertures 38 in a lining plate 31 of the car wall S. To facilitate manipulation during dismantling or setting up of the compartment in, the side component i6 is provided as shown in Figs. 4 and 7 with hand holes 38. As a consequence of the described-construction, it will be apparent that when the compartment I0 is collapsed (after re- ,moval of the heater ll of course) its components form flush continuations of the inner face of the c'ar wall E so that the full lading space in the car is available for freight when heating is not required or when the car is being refrigerated in the usual way.

in order that access may be had to the compartment it from the exterior for the purposes of refueling the heater or removing and replacing it, an opening 40 is formed in the side wall S of the car. said opening being fitted with a door 3! (Figs. 4, 5 and 12) which is hung on hinges 2 so that it may be swung upwardly as indicated by the curved arrow at in Fig. 5. Centrally of its bottom edge, the door ii is provided with an eye 43, which, when said door is .opened, is engageable with a keeper hook 44 (Fig. 5) pivotally connected to the side wall I of the car at 45. The door ll is securable in closed position by a pin it passed through the eye 43 and a registering eye Gil on the side wall S of the car immediately below the door opening" as also shown in Fig. 5.

As instanced in Figs. 2 and 5 shutters 56 preferably formed from sheet metal are hinged at 51 to the walls S of the car so that they can be swung down over the openings 50, as indicated in dotand-dash lines, when the heater compartments are collapsed, being securable in closed position by keepers 59 on the inner thicknesses 5B of the car walls 8 adjacent the lower edges of said openings. When the heater compartments B0 ar in use, the shutters 56 are securable in open position by keepers 58 on the top or cover components of saidcompartmente, as shown in full lines in Figs. 2 and 5.

With the compartments I0, is set up and the heaters It in them functioninng. the air circulation within the car will be divided as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. That is to say, the air streams respectively warmed by the heaters it will pass by way of the lateral opening 50 from the tops of the corresponding compartments i0, it into and upwardly of the vertical portions of the fines A, Al in the contiguous side walls S, 8! of the car, thence laterally in the respectively connecting horizontal portions of said flues, meeting at the slot-like port P and flowing through the latter into the top of the lading space at the center. Upon entering the lading space, the flow will dissipate and in so doing pass through and about the stored freight, finally finding its way through the interstices of the false floor F I to the horizontal passage beneath the latter whence it will again divide, part thereof returning into the bottom of one compartment it for reheating and the other part thereof into the bottom of the other compartment it, the circulation being thus laterally of the car and main-,

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. A railway car having within it a compartment for a removable heater, said-compartment being formed in part by two meeting walls of the car and in part by. a top component and two supplemental side wall components; means connecting said top component and one 01' aid supple-.

had to the compartment from the exterior of the car.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1, in which the compartment is formed in part by a side wall, a contiguou end wall and the door of the car.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1, in which the compartment is formed in part by a side wall, a contiguous end wall and the floor of the car, and in which the access opening is located in the side wall of the car.

4. The invention set forth in claim 1,. in which the car wall to which the supplemental wall components are connected is recessed for reception of said components in flush relation with the inner surface of said wall. I

5. The invention set forth in claim 1, in which the compartment is formed in part by a side wall, a contiguous end wall and the floor of the car;

I and in which said certain supplemental components are connected to said end wall of the car. 6. The invention set forth in claim 1, in which the compartment is formed in Part by a side wall,

meat for a removable heater, said compartment being formed in part by a side wall, a contiguous end wall and the floor of the car and in part by supplemental side walls and a top component, one of the supplemental side components and the top component being hingedly connected to the end wall of the car with capacity to be swung into a recess in said end wall when the use of the compartment is not desired, and the other supplemental side component being connected to said I one side component and the top component with capacity to be detached and placed in said recess behind said one side component.

8. The invention set forth in claim '7, in which the heater compartment is accessible" from the exterior through a door opening in the side wall of the car.

9. A railway car having within it in one comer a relatively low boxlike compartment for a heater defined in part by a side wall, a contiguous end wall and the floor of the car, said compartment being accessible from the exterior through a door opening in one of said car walls, and being in communication at the bottom with the lading space of the car; and a hot air flow fluein communication with the top of said compartment and extending up through one of the car walls to a level adjacent the car roof. I i

10. The invention set forth in claim 9, in which the flue extends inwardly beneath the car roof and terminates adjacent the longitudinal center of the latter.

11. The invention set forth in claim 9, in which the access door to the compartment has a hollow constituting a portion ofthe flue.

12. The invention set forth in claim 9, in which the compartment is collapsible; in which the flue communicates with the compartment through a lateral opening in the side wall of the car; and in which a retractable cover hinged to said car wall serves as a closure for said lateral opening when said compartment is collapsed.

CARLETON K. BTEINB. 

